


Inherited Flame

by sableu



Category: One Piece
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3921811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sableu/pseuds/sableu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The chances of Ace's old friend Marco and his brother Sabo running into each other not once, but twice, after Ace's death seem slim, but it happens- and suddenly the two of them find themselves together in a bar, not sure what they should say to each other.<br/>Not all that shippy, very light and implied Marco/Sabo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inherited Flame

It was coincidence enough running into Marco the Phoenix one time during his travels, but a second time was just baffling.  It was complete happenstance, still- they both just happened to have business to attend to in the same city.

Sabo wasn’t…thrilled.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like Marco, but the last time they’d met hadn’t gone so well.  For the most part, Marco had tried to avoid him.  Sabo couldn’t blame him.  From what he’d heard, Ace and Marco had been close.  Sabo could imagine that seeing him…Ace’s brother who Marco had never met, yet who had Ace’s power…It would hurt.  

That was why so far Sabo had stayed holed up in the pub on the other side of town from where Marco was staying.

And that was why he was so surprised when the very same man slid onto the seat at the bar next to him.

Sabo had to do a double take when he looked up from his drink and saw Marco there.  Had he not noticed him?  That was possible.

“Sabo, right?”

Sabo blinked, surprised, then nodded.  “Marco the Phoenix.”

“Mm.”  Marco called over the bartender to ask for some rum.  He hadn’t looked at Sabo yet, focused on the bottles on the shelves across from him.  

“I feel like I should apologize,” he said suddenly.

“….Apologize?” Sabo repeated.

“When I met you last, I wasn’t very friendly.  I’m sorry for that.  It was a bit childish of me.”

Sabo laughed a little.  “I don’t mind.  I get it.  Here I am, some perfect stranger, showing up out of the blue and saying I’m your crewmate’s brother…and with his devil fruit, too.  It’s enough to mess with anyone’s head.”

“Still,” Marco said.  “In fact, that almost makes it worse.  You’re my own crewmate’s brother and I…”

“Don’t worry about it.  Here- if it bothers you so much, buy me a drink.”

Marco chuckled.  “Fair enough,” he said, and he did.

Later that night, when they were both good and drunk, they started to do the one thing they’d never even consider doing with sober minds: they started to talk about Ace.  There were plenty of things to talk about.  Sabo had a five year backlog of stories from when they were little, and Marco had plenty of more recent ones.

“He really did that?  I can’t believe it!”

“I couldn’t either, but there it is!”

They roared with laughter, pounding their drinks on the counter.  Marco was an incredible storyteller, Sabo had to admit.  He could be nothing short of hilarious when he wanted to be.

Just when Sabo was about to launch into a story of his own, a bottle came flying from the back of the bar and smashed against a shelf.  There must’ve been a bar fight going on behind them, because then another bottle came rocketing towards them, this time going straight for Sabo’s head.  

He reflexively turned into fire and it phased right through him, nearly hitting the bartender on the other side.

He shook himself and sat down, then noticed his shoulders were still ablaze.  He made an embarrassingly loud noise of surprise and extinguished them.

“Holy hell, don’t burn down the pub!” the bartender said, stumbling backwards in alarm.

Sabo was a bit offended that he was getting scolded and not the guy who’d chucked the bottles in the first place, but he just said, “Yeah, sorry about that.”

He turned back to Marco and was about to continue his story, when he noticed the man was looking at him funny.

Oh…right.

“I’m sorry,” Sabo said quickly.  “I didn’t- It was an accident.”

Marco was quiet for a moment, then shook his head.  “No, no it’s all right.  …I’m glad that it’s you.  If anyone has to have his devil fruit, it should be you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  It suits you.”  He leaned on his hand, meeting Sabo’s eyes for the first time that night, a smile dancing across his lips.  “You looked good.”

Sabo frowned.  “Marco the Phoenix…are you flirting with me?”

Marco shrugged and picked up his drink.  His smile was bigger now.  “You could interpret it that way, if you want.”

“Mm, well, I saw your phoenix form the last time we met, and I’ll have you know that you looked good, too.”

Marco laughed loudly into his glass.  It was such a pleasant laugh, hardy and strong.  The kind that made Sabo want to laugh as well.

“So now you’re flirting with  _me_ , then?” Marco said.

“I’ll confirm nothing.”

“Fair enough.”

Maybe it was just because they were drunk that they were getting along so well, but Sabo couldn’t help but hope this could continue past tonight.  “You’re a funny guy, Marco.  You’re good with words, you know that?”

“All right, Revolutionary, don’t lay it on too heavy now.”

For some reason Sabo laughed so hard at that that he clenched his glass and it shattered in his hand.  “Oh, fuck, I’m so drunk…”

Marco pounded him on back.  “You’re all right.  How about another round?”

“Oh, why the hell not.”

As they got their new drinks- Sabo promising the exasperated bartender that he’d buy him a new glass- Marco’s expression suddenly turned serious.  He frowned and interlocked his hands, resting his chin on them.

After a moment of tense silence, he voiced what Sabo had been thinking: “I’ll see you again, right?”

“Yeah,” Sabo reassured him, though really he was reassuring himself as well.  “We’ll see each other again, promise.”

“Good.”

And so they spent the rest of the night talking, drinking, and laughing.  It was even almost like Ace was there with them as well.  

But of course he wasn’t.


End file.
